Sick dog face puffer

[sncriley]

HELP!!!!
Hi everyone! Any idea what could be going on with my dog face puffer? He usually is swimming around his area and eats really well- this morning it isn’t swimming just laying in the sand and will move a little to a new spot but seems to struggle to swim. Also looks deflated and its teeth are pushed out. Was difficult to get a pic of it without it being in the sand. I did a water change already. What could be going on?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Start with water quality
Is breathing normal or labored

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

HELP!!!!
Hi everyone! Any idea what could be going on with my dog face puffer? He usually is swimming around his area and eats really well- this morning it isn’t swimming just laying in the sand and will move a little to a new spot but seems to struggle to swim. Also looks deflated and its teeth are pushed out. Was difficult to get a pic of it without it being in the sand. I did a water change already. What could be going on?

Welcome to Reef to Reef!

More history of the fish and the tank, as well as a video would help us a lot. This post describes all that:

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Aquarium Fish Disease Problem Solving Determining the best course of action for a problem with your aquarium can be a difficult task. Even advanced aquarists will often need to seek the help of others for complicated or unique issues. Our intent here on Reef 2 Reef is to offer expert advice...

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Jay

 

[AydenLincoln]

How’s he doing? The first thing I notice is his massive break/teeth which happens if they don’t get or eat enough or any shelled foods. Usually when it gets to this point it prevents them from eating and a procedure is needed to be done to file them down. Puffers are like rabbits in that their teeth never stop growing and should be fed shelled foods to keep their beak extremely short to nonexistent. In the wild they constantly eat and graze on things which keeps it short in captivity it’s up to the caretaker to offer these foods like shelled clams, shelled shrimp, etc.